Yu He frowned. “Alarmist nonsense.”
He Xin shook his head. “Whether it’s alarmist nonsense can be judged by what they’ve been doing. I’ve come here in good faith.”
He swept his gaze around the group. “The Jinyang Army’s next target is very likely Yushui County.”
“If they take Yushui, the Jinyang Army and Daqing will be truly joined together. If Daqing Commandery then joins forces with the Jinyang Army to attack your Jiao Army, what will you do?”
A look of disdain flashed through Yu He’s eyes. “They wouldn’t dare. If they do, my Jiao Army will wipe them out without leaving a single survivor.”
He Xin: “…”
That was exactly what Qu Zhao had thought before. Back then, they had never imagined that the Jinyang Army would develop so rapidly.
He closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, his expression had hardened with resolve. “You may not know this yet, but the one who killed your great general, Jiao Liang, was the Jinyang Army.”
Everyone froze.
A moment later, Yu He laughed angrily. “Our great general is not someone you can casually speak of!”
Last time, Qu Zhao had clearly said that their great general had been killed by people from Daqing.
And now he was changing his story, claiming that the Jinyang Army had killed him?
Did they think the Jiao people were a joke?
Did everyone who came here have to use their great general as a topic of conversation?
At that moment, Yu He felt humiliated. He saw Qu Zhao’s words as an insult to the Jiao people and had no intention of investigating whether they were true.
Mu Qi gave a cold snort. “Daqing claims that you, Qu Zhao, killed our great general. How do you explain that?”
He Xin was stunned. After a moment, he shook his head and laughed bitterly. “Qu Zhao and the Jiao Army are allies. How could we possibly have killed your great general?”
“Besides, if we had such capabilities, how could we have failed to stop even the Jinyang Army?”
He turned to Jiao Tai. “General Jiao, you must believe in Qu Zhao.”
Jiao Tai snorted coldly. “You say one thing and then immediately go back on your word. How am I supposed to believe you?”
He Xin had no choice but to explain what had happened when Qu Zhao was struck by the “Heavenly Punishment.”
Jiao Tai and the others grew solemn. “Are you certain?”
He Xin nodded. “Of course. Many of our soldiers witnessed it at the time.”
A sinister look flashed through Yu He’s eyes. “Then why did Qu Zhao deliberately conceal it before?”
He Xin sighed. “Naturally, we had our own selfish reasons. At the time, we feared that you might join forces with Daqing… That was why we claimed it was Daqing.”
He gave a bitter smile. “We calculated everything, but never expected matters to develop in the worst possible direction.”
“If Qu Zhao weren’t in such a critical situation now, I wouldn’t have brought this up again.”
His expression grew grave. “I hope you will carefully consider our proposal for an alliance. We should work together to deal with the Han people. They are our true enemy.”
Jiao Tai was only half-convinced, but he still asked, “How do you propose we cooperate? What benefit would we gain?”
He Xin secretly breathed a sigh of relief. “You only need to attack Daqing directly, leaving them no time to cooperate with the Jinyang Army.”
Yu He was puzzled. “Why not attack Lin County? Since you claim the Jinyang Army is so powerful, why don’t we attack Lin County together and let us see just how capable they are?”
He Xin glanced at him. “That would naturally be possible as well. However, once Lin County is taken, it must belong to Qu Zhao. We can compensate you elsewhere.”
Yu He gave a cold laugh. “Why should we hand over a city we captured together to Qu Zhao?”
He Xin shook his head. “Qu Zhao contributed just as much in the battle for Dingyang, yet we still gave it to the Jiao people, didn’t we?”
Mu Qi spoke unhurriedly. “You did take part in the battle for Dingyang, but we were the main force. Besides, we exchanged Fengzhou’s counties for it. Those accounts were settled long ago. We’re discussing the present now.”
Back then, when their various tribes attacked Han territory, there was naturally no way to divide everything up in advance—one group taking Fengzhou and another taking Yuanzhou. The fighting had been a complete free-for-all.
Only after they had conquered most of the territory did they begin dividing their spheres of influence.
A cold glint appeared in He Xin’s eyes. Lin County was an extremely important strategic location. There was no way they would simply hand it over to the Jiao people.
After pondering for a moment, he said, “If you truly insist on attacking Lin County, then once it is taken, Qu Zhao can give you Kaizhou County.”
Kaizhou County was the westernmost county in Chunnan Commandery.
Although it was somewhat far from Yuanzhou and would become an isolated city for the Jiao Army, Kaizhou County was one of the Jiao people’s strategic passes and held considerable appeal for them.
Jiao Tai fell into thought. Only after a while did he say, “We’ll think it over. You should go down and rest for now.”
Lu You entered the city and looked at the ruined streets, his emotions complicated.
This was the third city they had conquered in all this time.
In the past, they had always been on the defensive, constantly taking blows.
It was only after joining forces with the Jinyang Army that they had begun attacking cities and seizing territory.
Li Zan sighed. “I’m afraid there aren’t many civilians left in the city.”
Lu You nodded. “The tally will be ready soon.”
In Feng’an County, Jiang Jin looked at the note in her hand. “Excellent. Yushui County has been taken.”
Yao Ji said softly, “As expected.”
Jiang Jin gazed at the sunlight outside. The weather was gradually growing warmer.
She smiled. “I’ll leave things here to you. The soldiers’ training and political education must not be neglected.”
Yao Ji knew she was preparing to return to Donghu Commandery and nodded. “Rest assured, my lord.”
The first thing Jiang Jin did after returning to Heichun County in Donghu Commandery was call a meeting.
Luo Qingci was the first to report. Her face showed deep sorrow. “There are only a little over fifty thousand Han civilians left in the entire Donghu Commandery.”
This was an entire commandery. Apart from those who had fled, Qu Zhao had nearly wiped out the civilian population.
At those figures, everyone present was filled with grief.
After a moment, Zhou Sui continued the report. “This time, we recruited approximately five thousand soldiers. Two thousand of them have been assigned to the navy.”
Jiang Jin calculated silently. Including the troops in Feng’an County, she now had roughly thirty thousand army soldiers and more than three thousand sailors.
The total population under her rule had also risen to around two hundred thousand.
Luo Qingci and Feng Qingzhu handed Jiang Jin the plans they had prepared. “My lord, please look this over. It’s the construction plan for the industrial district.”
Jiang Jin took it and read through it, growing more satisfied by the moment. “Very good. But this industrial district can be made even larger.”
Her rear base was becoming increasingly stable. Luo Qingci oversaw the government, Mu Qing and Mu Wanbai handled agriculture, Feng Qingzhu managed industry, and Chen Xi was in charge of education.
With so many capable people supporting her, she could save herself a great deal of worry.
Feng Qingzhu looked concerned. “This will require a great deal of money. We…”
Dong Si, who had recently obtained a huge sum of money from the powerful clans, waved his hand grandly. “Don’t worry about the money. Let our lord build it however she wants.”
Luo Qingci raised an eyebrow. Had their lord suddenly come into money?
Otherwise, given Dong Si’s temperament, he would never have agreed so readily.
Jiang Jin looked at Zhou Sui again. “Have you visited the shipyard in Xianglu County?”
